


One to Love and One to Lose

by ChiaRoseKuro



Series: A World of One's Own [11]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Drabble, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Prompt Fic, Songfic, Unreliable Narrator, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 04:10:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14347701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiaRoseKuro/pseuds/ChiaRoseKuro
Summary: Kakashi’s face is blanker than Naruto’s ever seen it before, Sasuke’s eyes are inexplicably red and the drunk old man… well, he’s still drunk and old, but it doesn’t stop him from looking as white as a sheet.So if Naruto follows their lead by flinching at the smallest noise and chattering a little less than usual, it’s nobody’s business but his own.(but what Naruto should've feared more were the things he couldn't see and could never touch)





	One to Love and One to Lose

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read the previous stories in _The Dark Side of the Morning_ then this will make little sense to you, so please read them first. As always, most of the disturbing content's implied rather than explicitly stated, but there's a (mostly) hidden element of self-neglect and dehumanization so if that's not your thing, I'd recommend pressing the 'back' button. Though the bullying and unhealthy relationships take a bit of a back seat in this one, if that's any consolation.
> 
> Special thanks to Selena Gomez's _Wolves_ for inspiring me in the days it took to write, delete then rewrite this, the prompt 'what do you mean, he's escaped?' for providing me with entirely too much writing angst before it resolved itself as a minor foreshadowing device, and my grandfather's passing for adding an edge of viciousness to the angst. I may not have been close to him, but deaths are hardly pretty no matter how they come about.

* * *

 

It happens on their first C-rank—of _course_ it does. They’re not a three-man team, will probably never be again with the way the Council drags their heels and tries to stop Team Seven from going on _any_ missions, but even Kakashi had become fed up and fetched them something anyway. Their client is a drunk old man, too busy sneering down the length of his nose and pulling at his bottle to care for much else.

All in all, it’s been a pretty shitty mission in a pretty shitty chain of events, so Naruto’s really not that surprised when two men fling themselves from a puddle.

No, what surprises him is the masked nin who decapitates them with two slices of their sword.

It’s hard to see much about them beyond a pitch black body suit— _like a more tasteful version of Lee’s_ , his mind inanely supplies—and the blank white mask covering even their hair. Leaf-green eyes peer from the eye slits, several shades darker than Sakura’s but close enough that Naruto’s heart lurches, but beyond that there’s little else to identify them.

By his side, Sasuke stares at the masked nin with a decidedly neutral expression and the drunk old man clutches his chest, still too shocked by the first pair’s appearance to react at this one’s. Kakashi, though…

Naruto’s no expert on reading faces, but that’s clearly not shock on Kakashi’s face.

(it’ll be too late when he figures it out, but that’s not for a while yet)

“Maa, that was timely,” Kakashi finally says, when the masked nin makes no move to leave and the silence is so dense that Naruto almost chokes on it. “What’s our mysterious saviour’s name so I know for future reference?”

_Too obvious_ , someone that sounds a lot like the bastard hisses, but the masked nin only inclines their head and jerks their fingers around a few times before retreating to the trees. They’re not hand signals like Jiji’s bodyguards sometimes make and they don’t look like the beginnings of any jutsu he knows, either, but—

Kakashi’s face is blanker than Naruto’s ever seen it before, Sasuke’s eyes are inexplicably red and the drunk old man… well, he’s still drunk and old, but it doesn’t stop him from looking as white as a sheet.

So if Naruto follows their lead by flinching at the smallest noise and chattering a little less than usual, it’s nobody’s business but his own.

(he never notices red eyes roving over his body, too busy fixing the smile on his face to care)  
  


* * *

  
“I know it’s you,” Naruto hears when he’s creeping back into his tent. “Now get out here.”

It’s meant to be his watch in ten minutes’ time, sandwiched between the others’ while the drunk old man snores obliviously into the night, but Naruto finds himself inching towards the low growl. There isn’t much to identify it by—it’s too clipped, for one, and he wouldn’t have heard it at all if he’d relieved himself faster—and it could be an enemy, for all he knows. The bastard’s on watch anyway, and goodness knows Sasuke needs to do some actual work instead of _posturing_ all the damn time.

He should go to bed, get a little bit more shut-eye until Sasuke kicks him out of bed like the ungrateful asshole he is. He should leave the low growl to whatever it’s doing because it’s probably not that close anyway, or he’s so tired that he’s imagined it all. He should just turn around and leave.

But Naruto doesn’t, and soon enough he sees someone silhouetted by the light of a full moon.

Sasuke—because the low growl _has_ to be him, there’s nobody else around for _miles_ beside their team—half-turns towards Naruto and he freezes, fearing the worst. There’s a tense moment where he thinks he’s been had, that the still-inexplicable red of Sasuke’s eyes can see him even though he’s half-hidden behind a tree trunk—but then Sasuke turns away with a _tch_ and Naruto sighs as quietly as he can.

Only to almost blow his cover when someone appears between one moment and the next as a weirdly distorted voice says, “Impressive, but expected of one with your eyes.”

“Cut to the chase,” Sasuke hisses, and it’s at this moment that Naruto sees beyond the shadows and catches sight of a blank white mask. Thankfully, the bastard’s next words cover up his surprised gasp, but Naruto’s missed them all by the time he’s calmed down.

Still, hearing the mask-nin’s cryptic, “You know what will happen next. Be sure you make the right decision,” clears some things up, even as other questions clamour to take their places. There’s little left to say after that and the mask-nin’s gone before long, but by then…

_Ah, I’ll leave it for later,_ Naruto thinks, and wriggles into his sleeping bag in time to get ‘roused’ for his shift.  
  


* * *

  
“Naruto,” Kakashi says in a voice Naruto can’t place, “wake up.”

He’s never been a morning person and the most he can do is gurgle in protest, but Naruto forces his arms to move before long and he finds himself blinded by sunlight soon enough. “What’s wrong?” he asks when there’s nothing to see, but then—

That’s the thing, isn’t it?

_There’s no Sasuke, no drunk old man—only Kakashi and himself, and nothing else._

“We’re going back to Konoha,” Kakashi adds after a while, as though he’d just forgot instead of seeing Naruto collapse to his knees and doing nothing to help him up. “Get packed.”

_But why?_ Naruto wants to ask, except… there’s no reason, is there?

_He was playing you all along,_ his mind says, and…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_She’s still gone._

_She’s still **gone**._

(and now _he’s_ gone too, gone after _he’d_ talked about love like _he_ knew what it was)

(there is only Naruto left, and the non-entity is—)

**Author's Note:**

> For further author notes and other things related to this fic or series, feel free to check out my [blog](https://chiarosekuro.wordpress.com/). I've got other writing stuff on there as well, if that piques your interest, but you're best checking out 'One to Love and One to Lose' or 'A World of One's Own' if you want this fic/series specifically.


End file.
